Tuesday, March 10, 2015

It has been ages since I last posted here and a lot has happened... but the biggest news is that my "other half" and I have moved out of the motorhome and into a house (at last!). That happened on December 31, 2014, late in the afternoon and we were so pleased to be in a house that it didn't matter that we didn't have any furniture to put into it. We cleared out the motorhome over the next couple of days, despite the weather (which really wasn't all that bad considering it was the dead of winter in Alberta), and set up housekeeping as best we could. It took until today to get into our storage and move a load in our GMC Yukon (yes, we even got a new vehicle, although we do still have the old motorhome).

At any rate, that isn't what I wanted to talk about, although it does catch you up a bit with my life. What I really wanted to talk about is in the title of this post. :)

I was reading a book called "The Peach Cobbler Murder" by Joanne Fluke (there are recipes in these stories, folks!) and there is a reference to "Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy" on page ... well never mind what page it's on because your book might be different from mine anyway, so there is no point. At any rate, the song was published in 1945 but the desserts have been around a lot longer than that. Once I couldn't get the words of the song out of my head, I just had to research the desserts and see what they are and where they originated and share it with you... 'Cause that's what I tend to do with useless bits of information. ;)

So, without further ado, here's what I found out......

Shoo-fly pie or Shoofly
pie is a molasses pie considered
tradition among Pennsylvania Amish and
Mennonites and Pennsylvania Dutch. Surprisingly, Shoo-fly Pie is not as popular
in non-Pennsylvania Amish and Mennonite communities. It is found in Ohio; but
in Indiana, if you ask for a piece of Shoo-fly pie in an Amish
restaurant, the person who serves it will rather disparagingly tell you 'it’s made only for the
tourists'.

The pie supposedly got its name because the
sweet molasses odour attracts flies that must be "shooed" away. The Shoo-fly pie's origins likely come from "Treacle tart", with the primary
difference being the use of molasses instead of golden syrup. A Montgomery pie is similar
to a Shoo-fly pie, except lemon juice is added to the bottom layer and
buttermilk to the topping. A Chess pie is also similar, but it's not layered.

Shoo-fly pie comes in two different versions, "wet bottom" and "dry bottom".
The dry bottom version is baked until fully set, which results in a more cake-like
consistency throughout. The wet bottom version sets like cake on the top
where it has mixed in with the crumbs, but the bottom is a stickier,
gooier, custard-like consistency.

Recipe for Shoo-fly Pie

Pastry for a 1-crust 9-inch pie - you can use a prepared crust, boxed mix, or make your own.

Topping

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 rounded tablespoon cold butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

1 egg

1 cup light molasses

3/4 cup cold water

1/4 cup hot water

1 teaspoon baking soda

1.Preheat the oven to 350
degrees. Roll out the pie pastry and line a 9-inch pie pan; set aside.

3.Remove 1/2 cup of the mixture
and set aside. Transfer the rest to a medium mixing bowl.

4.In a small bowl, beat the egg
lightly. Add the molasses and cold water, and blend but do not beat; you don’t
want bubbles in the batter. Set aside.

5.In a small bowl, mix the hot
water with the baking soda and blend into the molasses mixture.

6.Add to the flour mixture and
mix well.

7.Pour into the pie shell and top
with the reserved crumbs.

8.Bake for 35 minutes. The pie
will appear quivery but will firm up as it cools.

9.Transfer to a rack to cool
completely before cutting.

So now you know. The "Apple Pan Dowdy" was a bit more involved once I found it. And the recipe I'm adding is actually for Peach Pan Dowdy instead, but you can use pretty much any fruit you want, or a mixture of fruit if you prefer.

Fruit
Pan Desserts, including Pan Dowdy

“Back in the day”, when women had to cook
for large groups of people (whether family or thrashing crews), desserts were
necessary and expected... and for ease in the kitchen, they were often simple to put together. A pan with fruit and some
sort of topping was baked and could then be served directly from the pan,
sometimes with cream or ice cream. How are the different fruit pan desserts the same and
how are they different? Most of these desserts are baked with fruit under a
topping, which can be biscuit-like, crumbled, or drops of dough. Various
sweeteners differentiate one from the other in many cases. Here is a brief description of various fruit pan desserts so you know who's who with them. :)

1.Betty: This baked dessert dates back to Colonial
times. The most common Betty is the “Apple Brown Betty”, so named because it is
made with brown sugar. A Betty uses buttered bread crumbs.

2.Buckle: Blueberry Buckle is the most
prevalent Buckle recipe found. Buckles are baked and are usually made in one of
two ways.

a.The first way is that the
bottom layer is cake-like with the berries mixed in. Then the top layer is
crumb-like.

b.The second way is layered,
where the cake layer is on the bottom of the pan, the berries are the next
layer and the top is the crumble mixture.

3.Clafouti: This is a dessert that
originated in the French countryside. It is a dessert that the fruit is topped
with either a cake or pudding topping. The Clafouti is often considered a baked
pudding.

4.Cobbler: Another baked fruit pan. The
fruit filling is put in a deep baking dish and topped with a biscuit dough. The
dough may completely cover the fruit or it may just be dropped in handfuls.

5.Crumble: Similar to a Crisp, the topping
is crumbled over the fruit filling in the pan. A Crumble is baked.

6.Crisp: In this baked dessert, the fruit
filling is covered with a crunchy topping which is crumbled over the top.

7.Grunt: A Grunt is a stewed or baked
fruit dish. Biscuit dough is rolled and put on top of the fruit. The name of
Grunt may have come from the noise people made while eating it. Grunts are also
known as Slumps.

8.Pan Dowdy or Pandowdy: You'll find both
spellings for this baked dish. The dough is on top of the fruit and it is
rolled out, yet it ends up being “crumbly” when eaten.

Peach Pan Dowdy

Bottom

6 cups thickly sliced peaches

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Top

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

1.Preheat the oven to 3750
F (1900 C).

2.Place the peaches in a medium
bowl. Sprinkle lemon juice over them. Mix together 1/2 cup of sugar and cornstarch.
Sprinkle over the peaches, and stir to coat. Spoon into a 2 to 2 1/2 quart
casserole dish.

3.In a medium bowl, stir together
the flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter with a
fork or pastry cutter until it is in fine crumbs. Make a well in the center,
and pour in the cream. Stir with a fork until the dough pulls away from the
sides of the bowl.

4.Roll out dough on a floured
surface until it is just big enough to cover the baking dish. Cut a 2 inch
cross in the center. Place over the peaches, and tuck in the dough around the
sides. Turn back the corners of the cross to reveal the filling.

5.Bake for 40 to 45 minutes in
the preheated oven, until filling is bubbly, and top is golden brown.

Well, that's it for this time. I do hope you enjoyed this little blurb. Try the recipes and let me know how yours turns out.